Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan: Interview with Haji Ahmad Saeed, head of (Mujahideen) operations in Kandahar city

November 11, 2010

The following transcript is an official media release from the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (Taliban). Reprinted with permission.

An indepth interview with Haji Ahmad Saeed, head of operations in Kandahar citySource: Islamic Emirate of AfghanistanNovember 11, 2010 15:01

The recent operations in the province of Kandahar, by the enemy I.S.A.F forces are viewed by the western-orientated media, as the last military push against the Mujahideen. The majority of them are of the opinion that should these operations fail as well; the Americans would have no other option but to leave Afghanistan.

The enemy admits, that the essential objective of this operation is to prevent the collapse of Kandahar city (which is Afghanistan’s second largest city) to the Mujahideen forces. To achieve this, the enemy, besides conducting operations in the districts surrounding Kandahar city, has now also started military operations in the city centre as well. To find out exactly what impact these operations have had on the Mujahideen forces, we talked to Haji Ahmad Saeed, who is in charge of Mujahideen military operations in Kandahar city. This detailed interview is presented below.

Alemarah: First of all, please give us some general information of the recent operations of the invading forces: what are some of the activities the invaders have undertaken?

Haji Ahmad Saeed: All Praise is to Allah, Kandahar city, which has in the past many years, bore witness to some of the Mujahideen’s greatest operations and bravery, has seen sustained attacks by Mujahideen warriors. These attacks have caused our internal and external enemies’ to panic, to the point of admitting that [the area] could very well fall to the banner of Islamic Emirate’s soldiers. Since then, the enemy has completely revised its strategy, focussing almost exclusively on Kandahar city and its surrounding regions. In line with this strategy, the enemy has increased its presence in the region considerably. This increase has been witnessed in the city centre as well, where the enemy has increased its infantry and motorised battalions. They have also carried out large scale raids against civilian population by surrounding entire districts, then carrying out house to house searches for weapons and Mujahideen. They have also started operations in regions that are under Mujahideen control. They have infested the city centre with numerous foreign and army outposts, besides the normal police stations. They have set up more and more check points on the roads and increased their intelligence gathering spy-rings. All this has given Kandahar city the appearance of a city under siege.

The enemy has caused all this commotion and carried out these measures to stop our activities in the region but Alhamdulillah and again Alhamdulillah, as our recent operations in the heart of the city have shown, the enemy has utterly failed in this objective. Even the westerners’ own governmental and non-governmental agencies confirm our success by stating that Mujahideen activities in Kandahar, instead of decreasing, have increased by over twenty-four percent.

Alemarah: The enemy invaders claim that they have set up a belt [around] Kandahar city to choke the movements of Mujahideen into and out of the city. What information do you have regarding this?

Haji Ahmad Saeed: It is true that the enemy has set up various check points on the roads leading into the city and on the main highways and constructed some ten large army stations. One of these army posts is on the Panjwaee road near Kobai; another is on the way from Khanjakak towards Soop; another is on the Heart road near Seelo; another is on the Arghandab road near Mir Ahmad Khan’s Kalachi; one near Kotal, one on Shah Wali Kote road, on Kabul road near Ainoominy; on the Boldak road from Shurandam towards the city. They have also set up two new army posts on the roads leading from Mahlajat. All these outposts have some of the most high-tech detection and identification tools available to the west. Yet despite this they have never captured any of our Mujahideen, nor detected any explosive-laden vehicle. Everyday our explosive filled vehicles pass over these army checkpoints and army posts without being detected or captured. This is all by the Grace of Allah who has favoured us in all opportunities. The enemy’s so called ‘belt’ has achieved no other purpose besides harassing the local populace. As you can see, our attacks on the city have increased rather than decreased. Therefore this belt is no impediment to the Mujahideen operations and its purpose has been inflated far beyond its capabilities.

Alemarah: How are the Mujahideen’s operations inside Kandahar city?

Haji Ahmad Saeed: In the city, as of old, as soon as darkness spreads the stooge government’s rule comes to an end, our battalions start their patrols and our operations begin. At night, we set up our ambushes on all the major roads, sealing the enemy inside their outposts. Due to our ambushes, now the enemy has accepted that they cannot provide support to their other outposts if and when they get attacked. Similarly, the Mujahideen always watch their activities during day time. Everyday enemy spies and soldiers are shot dead by our snipers. Several days ago, on the Kandahar bypass road, Mujahideen conducted searches of cargo trucks finding and subsequently burning those trucks carrying supplies to enemy soldiers. All this proves that the Mujahideen have the capabilities and willingness, to conduct operations in the city according to their own initiative, while the enemy has lost all morale and determination to fight.

Alemarah: It is said that since this new operation was launched, many innocent residents have gone missing, some of whom have subsequently been found and have reported to have been kidnapped by American and puppet government officers. What information do you have regarding this?

Haji Ahmad Saeed: It is true that the enemy has arrested many innocent people, the majority of whom are still suffering in prisons. These people have been arrested by government intelligence services as well as by various local militias. Many of them have been arrested due to personal or tribal rivalries. These incidents require a thorough investigation because many of these innocent arrestee’s have often been tortured to death without any legal process. These are all innocent Afghan civilians whose death should be investigated by all Afghan and global societies.

Alemarah: Enemy has been announcing recently that they have captured a large cache of weapons, explosives and mines from the Mujahideen. What is your information regarding this?

Haji Ahmad Saeed: This is yet another of the enemy’s baseless claims. We have not yet faced a situation where the Mujahideen’s weapons or mines have been captured due to the enemy’s intelligence gathering. However, it has sometimes happened that some of our mines have failed to explode due to some technical or electronic failure. These have subsequently fallen into enemy hands further inflating their egos.

Alemarah: The issue of civilian casualties is hotly debated in Kandahar. The enemy propaganda claims that civilians are often killed in Mujahideen operations. What do you have to say about this

Haji Ahmad Saeed: I, as the head of Kandahar operations, feel very sensitive to this issue, first in front of Allah and then in front of our Afghan people. If we did not fear for causing harm to our own people then our operations in Kandahar would be ten times more than they are today. We have always tried our best to completely end any civilians casualties on our part. We often have had to cancel our operations when we fear the possibility of civilian casualties. On the other hand, the enemy always seeks to stay and move in our population centres so that if Mujahideen attack them, any resulting civilian damage would be blamed on the Mujahideen. As much as we want to attack the enemy, we know that they want to use our people as human shields for their protection and therefore we abstain from confronting them in these areas.

Alemarah: Partly as a result of the recent operations and partly due to the targeted killings of government workers, some people in Kandahar are beginning to think that these shootings and bombings are random and indiscriminate. For this reason these people are very fearful of the present situation. What is your message to these people?

Haji Ahmad Saeed: I want to tell these people that if they are not government workers then they should be completely calm and relaxed. The operations in Kandahar are not random and spirit of the moment operations, instead each step is thoroughly planned and meticulously executed. The Mujahideen of the Islamic Emirate first conduct thorough background research into their targets and when their relationship with the puppet government and their foreign paymasters is fully confirmed, do they proceed to punish these collaborators. Only once during my term has one of our Mujahids mistaken an innocent person (who fully resembled the intended target and was present in the same neighbourhood) for an intended target and killed him. On that occasion we contacted the family of the deceased and resolved the matter under the law of Shariah. Other than that no innocent person has been killed in these targeted assassinations. I want to console my fellow countrymen that the valiant Mujahideen would never stoop to randomly killing their own countrymen. It is quite possible that the puppet government and the foreign invaders have put some moles in the city that terrify the populace by defaming the name of the pious Mujahideen. We have provided a contact number to the people of Kandahar to seek our help if ever confronted by these stooge government bandits.

Alemarah: How would you describe the Kandahar government?

Haji Ahmad Saeed: The government in Kandahar is barely capable of defending itself. We can see that the Kandahar government has no staff or functioning bureaucracy. Its only functioning organs are the police stations, which are run by the American invaders. On the other hand, the Mujahideen have set up various different committees which are always busy resolving the daily disputes of the local people in Kandahar.

Alemarah: To end, if you would like to say something or send a message, feel free.

Haji Ahmad Saeed: I, as a Mujahid and Muslim Afghan, would like to outline three issues which, if acted upon, will Inshallah bring success in this world and the one to follow.

· My first message is to the puppet government workers. I say to them as a Muslim Afghan to leave this government. The government they work for is neither lawful nor Shar’ee (which applies the rule of Allah) but is a slave institution set up by the Americans to further their imperial goals. It does not befit a Muslim to work for the infidels in such an institution. They should hasten to leave this institution, and the Mujahideen will uphold all their rights.

· My second message is to the various different contractors responsible for working for the Americans in exchange for money. I tell them that even if your collaboration with the foreigners brings you wealth; it also increases the misery of Afghanistan under foreign occupation. For this reason you must give up on earning such unlawful wealth and give up your collaboration with the American invaders.

· My third message is to the various militias around Kandahar that are set up and run by the American invaders. Most of the commanders and soldiers in these militias are those same bandits that infested Kandahar before the inception of the Islamic Emirate. These bandits were once disarmed after the invasion but have once more been re-armed to serve as the shovels of Americans. I ask these men to consult their consciousness. How the Americans used them at the start of the invasion and then denounced them as bandits and miscreants. Now that they are again knee-deep in the mud, they invoke you to do their dirty deeds. Is it not enough for you to learn from your previous mistakes? You should not involve yourself once again in this dangerous war.

[End.]__________

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